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Sunday, 13 November 2011

Matting Mythbusters (Part 1)

Hi there.Just going to blow apart a few commonly held beliefs about matting!First,wind.Don't worry about it!Recently,I've been out in pretty breezy conditions.Today had gusts up to 40 knots offshore(see pic).No problems.Just as easy to catch waves and speed pretty good!The mat seems to adhere to the water well,like a pondskater.Easier than riding a rigid board,cos the mat isn't chattering over all the wind ripples or flying backwards off the peak.So there we are.Any mat disappearances I've heard of were caused by rip currents rather than wind.Let us know of your close calls and any worries you may need dispelling(especially non-matters wavering about starting and beginners).Bye now!

7 comments:

Agreed. For a long time, I worried about taking my mat out in strong winds but now I don't worry about it. Just got to make sure you hang on to the mat and never let it go especially in a strong off shore as it will be gone out to sea never to be retrieved. The bonus of course is that will the stand up riders are struggling to get on to a wave in the face of that onshore it is no problem for the prone guy on a mat! Looking forward to the next myth buster!

I've actually let go of mats in strong winds and they've not blown away. I think most of the time the surface tension of the water keeps them stuck. There was a moment at Matmeet 1 where Cookson's mat folded up at a right angle and sailed off looking like an armchair! :-D

Did you do Droskyn today Ian?. How was it? Bantham was blown flat but me and Webbo had an hour. I contemplated giving you a shout but decided to level it til next weekend after Friday's hopelessness. I also need to re-balance my shakras or something after my woeful performance yesterday.

That's right,Ram.I'd forgotten the surface area angle!Droskyn was fun yesterday,my favourite waves,2ft A frame barrelly screamers!Much the same today,but with less added bald loggers.Dolphins,though!Going for 8 dips in 9 days tomorrow,this run of surf doesn't look like ending soon!

I agree, there's no point worrying about it. It can happen though as i know only to well after losing a mat in a howling gale down in Victoria a year or 2 ago. It was one of the black mats with round deck patches and the newer hybrid mats seem less likely to go flying. I got smashed by a big set and lost my grip on the mat. The next set lifted one end of the mat off the water surface as a bigger gust of wind hit and then it just went. Weeeeeeeee, cartwheeling and flying off into the distance. It actually looked quite beautiful, probably heading off to join a pod of wild mats somewhere in the southern ocean, sniff...

Losing a mat is upsetting. The only one I lost was due to a lip-sponsored trip to the bottom. I came up with no sight of the mat so assumed it had gone in so headed that way myself. It may well have gone in, but if it did it hit the rip and went back out again.

I still wonder where it is. Probably hooked up with Bagofwind's mat and has headed on a Grande Tour.